it's a given that washington is broken. that the two parties seem incapable of coming together to get things done. but here is something president obama could probably do by himself that would be a signal accomplishment of his presidency, end the war on terror. for the first time since 9/11, an administration official sketched out a possible end point. jay johnson, the then general council for the pentagon said in a recent speech to the oxford union that as the battle against al qaeda continues, there will come a tipping point that so many of the leaders and operatives of allocate da and it's affiliate have been killed, captures such as al qaeda as we know it has been effectively destroyed. at that point he said our efforts should no longer be considered an armed conflict. you might not realize it, but we're still living in a state of war. this is the longest period that the united states has lived in such a situation. longer than the civil war, world war one or world war ii. it grants the president and the federal governme